Lost Ties
by mikeallday55
Summary: Zane and Bethany were really good friends back in Lothering and they lost each other during the blight. Will Zane win the love of his life or will the innocent girl push him away.
1. A new beginning

**A/N: This is my first story so any feed back would be helpful whether it's negative or positive thank you I hope you enjoy it.**

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Lost Ties: A Dragon Age Story

6 months ago

As I wake up I feel excited about the day so I quickly get out of bed, get dressed, and eat breakfast as I plan out the day. I head out the house I left my sword but I'm still armed just in case something happens while I'm out with her. I'll do anything in my power to protect her I feel as though it's my duty to do so and I will do so. As I walk to meet her at the Chantry I can't help but wonder if I'll have the guts to ask her today maybe she will say yes but what if she doesn't what if she wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore I wouldn't be able to handle that. I see her by the chantry and she is looking around for me, until she turns around and catches my eye and starts beaming at me and I beam back at her, she is wearing her usual robes with blue and grey with the same red bandanna around her neck.

"Hey Bethany, how are you?" I said happily looking her in her brown eyes

"Hello Zane I am good. How are you?" She asked back while she brushed hair back behind her ear

"I am better now that I'm here with you." She smiled as I said that to her "What do you want to do today I'm up for anything."

"I know exactly where to go, follow me." She said winking at me and started walking with me in tow

We walked for about ten minutes before we stopped on top of a hill with a view of the green plains. We laid on the grass and stared at the sky there is not a cloud in sight now and we sat in a comfortable silence for a few minutes "This is nice Bethany… I'm glad you brought me here." I said smiling at her

"It is nice. I like coming out here when I'm stressed out its very relaxing." She said back still looking at the sky and sighing as she relaxes

She is so beautiful and I need to tell her now… she needs to know about who I am and how I feel about her. Once she finds out she might not want to be around me anymore, if that happens at least I'll have a clear conscience about it. "Bethany I have to tell you something. When I do you might not want to be friends anymore." I say quietly avoiding her gaze

"I won't push you away I promise you." She started smiling at me and put her hand on top of mine, we stayed like that for what felt like an hour.

"Alright… well I umm… I was born a mage-"I started to say then she interrupted me sounding rather happy

"Really you're a mage… I am too! Maker it's good to know somebody who knows what it's like to be an apostate." She says bouncing a little and that made me feel better that she was not mad about part of the secret I kept from her. "How come I never see you carry a staff around with you… wait were you lying just to hear me say what I said." She said changing the tone of her voice.

"What… no I would never do that look." I said as I showed off my magic to her and that brought the smile back to her face "I don't carry a staff because I don't rely on my magic and it's the type of magic that I possess that makes me hate it so much." I say looking away from her

"What kind of magic is it? Is it blood magic?" she said curiously

"No blood magic here trust me on that. It's actually umm dark magic." I say back and she looks at me confused

"What's dark magic?" she asked blinking in confusion

"It's a type of magic only studied by demons, and at one point humans did get their hands on it but it proved to be too dangerous for the humans to handle and so because of that they disposed of any books or spells they had of dark magic." As I explained it to her she grew curious and very interested.

"Wait if it's only studied by demons how do you know it?" she asked even more confused

"That is a long story." I say trying to avoid the question

"Tell me, please tell me I really want to know." She begged and made a puppy dog face at me looking really adorable

"Well how could I say no to that face" I say smiling at her she giggled in response "The reason I know dark magic is because my father taught me… and the thing about my father was he a umm demon himself. My mother was a mage so that's why I'm a mage but my father impregnated her and then I was born. Half demon, half human and I can tell you I hate my demon side… after I was born my parents were together in a way." I try to explain to her

"What kind of way." she asks me looking me right in my eyes

"He would treat her really bad and would practically torment her until the day I killed him, trying to do my mother a favor. She basically turned against me and she treated me like I was a stranger like I was nothing." I say in a soft voice looking her in her beautiful brown eyes

"Is your mother still alive?" she asks and I shrug my shoulders "I hope you know that this doesn't change anything I don't think differently or badly of you." She said in a comforting voice as she placed her hand on my face so I can keep looking her in the eyes. We sat in silence for about 30 seconds then I leaned in forward and kissed her slowly and she returned we stayed like that for about 2 minutes then she pulled away suddenly "I can't do this. I'm sorry, I just can't." And with that she left she ran off and left me confused.

I feel like I did something wrong I don't get it but maybe she's just confused about how she feels I would have to hope to see her tomorrow and ask her myself.

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That was then, this is now she could probably be dead now I'm not even sure. Right after that kiss we didn't see each other for about a week then that's when the blight happened. I looked for her but I had to give up so I can escape and I think about her everyday.

I have stayed on a ship heading towards Kirkwall even though they have a lot of Templars I have connections there, I should be safe.

"OY! Captain When are we docking!" I yelled to the Captain

"We should be docking by tonight. We made really good time if we're this close already." He said back staring while steering the ship the captain is nice and we get along, well mostly because I work harder than most people on the ship. "You should get some rest Zane, you work to hard." He said not even looking at me.

"Yeah most of the people on this ship are a bunch of bitches so you need my help." I said jokingly and the captain threw his head back in laughter as I headed down to my quarters. I laid on my bed and drifted off to sleep. When I woke up we were approaching Kirkwall

"A new beginning,"


	2. Special Reunion

I am in Kirkwall and the first thing I need to do is find a place to stay. I approach a tavern with a giant hanging man on the front I look at it for a minute then I walk inside and there a lot of people having a good time while drunk some are trying to flirt with any girl they lay eyes on.

I walk up to the bar and the man behind looks at me "Welcome to the Hanged Man, what can I get you?" He says

"Give me a room for now." I reply back to him and he nods

"Sure thing." He says handing me the key as I hand him some coin he had the female waitress show me where my room is, and she is rather touchy.

"Here is your room… come find me if you ever need some company." She says in a seductive tone

"I'll umm… keep that in mind." I said back to her she winked at me and rubbed my arm as she walked back to the tavern below. I walk in my room and lie down on the bed and closed my eyes to sleep the rest of the night away.

As I wake up the sun is out in the morning sky I get out of bed get cleaned up, got dressed and went downstairs to get some food. There are a fair amount of people in the tavern eating breakfast right now so I go down and get me some food before I leave out.

I'm walking looking for any kind of work right now, I heard there is an elf named Athenril and she is always looking for help. I start walking in the rich area of Kirkwall and it looks nice with the big estates and all but I just don't like nobles and how they act towards people who aren't wealthy like them. As I'm walking I see a group of elves standing around and some of them are female and they are all armed which told me all I needed to know. When I walked up to them a elven woman stepped up with two daggers and reddish-orange hair she looked at me with caution and seemed ready for a fight.

"Who are you?" She asked cautiously looking me up and down

"My name is Zane, are you Athenril?" I say in a calm tone

"Yeah I am what do you want." She says rather harshly

"I hear you're a smuggler and looking for extra help."

"Yeah I am. What of it?" She looks me over once more

"I'm here to offer my help but if not I'll take my services elsewhere." I say start walking away until I hear her call out.

"Wait," she says as she walks up to me "I could hire you but I would need to see your skills myself." She added

"When do we start?" I said with a satisfied look on my face

I have been working with Athenril for a few weeks and it's nice to have something to do during the day to keep you busy. Athenril and I get along pretty well and we trust each other. She is a good teammate and friend there were times when we were at each other's throats but we got over that after I saved her life while we were out on a mission together. She and I make a pretty effective team and she watches my back just like I watch hers.

Right now I'm by myself and I'm walking through low town when I hear a scream not far from me. I go to where I heard the scream and I see two men harassing a poor defenseless young woman _she needs help… damn I hate low town_, I thought to myself as I went to help the girl.

"Oy! You don't treat a lady like that now back off before we have a problem." I say to them as I run my hand through my short black hair, they turned and laughed.

"Who the hell does this guy think he is?" one guy says as he looks down at his accomplice who is shorter than he is.

"I don't know but let's shut him up before he calls the guard." The short one says as he pulls at a knife the tall one nods in agreement and they charge at me. I don't even bother to pull out my sword as the one with the knife tries to swing at me, I grabbed his arm and took the knife right out of his hand and threw him to the ground. As his friend tried to take a swing at me I dodged all of it and stabbed him in the leg with the knife then threw it at the short one and hit him in the leg and he came crashing down.

"Now get out of here or next time I won't be merciful." They limped and scurried away when I said that.

"Thank you for helping me." The girl says to me as she stands up and I turn around and… _she looks familiar,_ I thought but I can't see her to well in the dark.

"It's not a problem really there's no need to thank me." I say back as I turn around and start to walk off when I feel someone gently grab my arm I turn around and see a beautiful young woman with long black hair and beautiful brown eyes that look like they can see right through you she is wearing what looks like robes with blue and grey and a red bandana around her neck no it can't be… _Bethany! _I yelled in my head and start to say something to her but she beat me to it.

"Zane… is that you?" she asks and her eyes go wide and I nod my head as I'm lost for words she immediately lights up as she throws her arms around me in a tight embrace and I hug her back. "What are you doing here in Kirkwall? How did you escape the blight? How did you find me?" she asks me all at once and let's go of me.

"Well I live in Kirkwall now and I work with someone named Athenril. I escaped by going south and I tried to look for you and your family but you were nowhere to be found. And for finding you I heard you scream and came as fast as I could." I say back looking at her and she is still smiling "How did you escape the blight?"

"We tried to go south and ended up catching a ride on a dragon." She answers and I just look confused "My brother Carver didn't make it though." She adds on lowering her head and hug her again and she hugs me back.

"I'm sorry for the loss of your brother." I say with sympathy

"He died protecting my mother." The beautiful black haired girl says

"Where are you and your family staying, I want to make sure you get home safely." I say looking in those hypnotizing brown eyes

"I live near the Hanged Man so follow me." She starts walking with me close behind

"How's your sister and mother doing? I remember them quite fondly I say we walk together to her home

"They are good but living with my uncle is terrible."

"You have an uncle?" I ask

"Yes," The beautiful girl said simply "Him and mother have been arguing every day now and it's becoming too much."

We walked and talked together she told me how her and her sister work for Athenril as well which wasn't that shocking because Athenril told me she had a couple of young women working for her.

As we reached her door she asked me if I wanted to come in but I declined wanting to just go back to my room at the Hanged Man and sleep.

As I walk back to the tavern I smile to myself

"That was a special reunion."


	3. Hangovers and Breakfast

It's been six months after I reunited with Bethany we spend a lot of time together I even met her sister Marian and her mother Leandra and they're nice. Marian, Bethany, and I have worked together a few times for Athenril. Speaking of Athenril, she and I have gotten rather close lately. I and she have been working together for a while and at first she didn't trust me that much but soon that turned into trust which turned into friendship then it just kind of happened. We have seeing each other for a few weeks now and she's great we don't argue that much and we spend a lot of time together. She even let me stay at her with her home with her which was nice. Me and Bethany have been spending time together and it's nice to spend time with a really good friend. Her sister Marian and I get along pretty well I have helped her and Bethany working for Athenril and I noticed she is really diplomatic and where I would have killed somebody she let them go and I don't have a problem with that seeing as she leads the missions we go on. Their mom Leandra is nice and a very respectable woman now I know where Bethany and Marian get it from. And their Uncle Gamlen… I'd rather not talk about him.

Right now I'm in the Hanged Man because I'm waiting for somebody (plus I could use a drink), he is a dwarf with orange hair and I think his name is Varric. I have been sitting here for about an hour and I'm losing patients. After I order my third drink someone taps me on the shoulder I turn around and see a dwarf. _A dwarf without a beard… that's different_ I think to myself.

"Are you Varric Tethras?" I ask as I sip my dink

"The one and only. And I assume your Athenril's new lap dog." He says with a smile on his face that tells me he's joking

"That's me." I say chuckling "I hear you need someone to help with an expedition you and your brother are planning."

"You heard right. Do you want to invest?"

"Yeah I'll invest. How much do you need?"

"Hundred sovereigns." He said looking around the tavern

"All I have is fifty but I know somebody who can get the rest." I say and we both got up and walked out of the tavern into the night

"Ok who is it?"

"Well it's two of them both girls. The Hawke sisters know about it already they are supposed to talk to your brother in high town tomorrow in high town look for them there. Trust me they will impress you." I said

"If you say so. I'll meet you at the Hanged Man tomorrow night." He replied

"Alright." I said walking off.

The next day I see Varric walking with Hawk and Bethany and they seem to be getting along fine. "Good morning all." I say walking over to them they all smile at me. "What are you guys talking about?" I ask

"About the deep roads expedition." Varric informs me

"Yeah me and Marian are going to raise the money so we can go."

"That's great if you need any help getting the money just let me know." I say to them

"Now that that's out of the way, how about that card game? I hear Varric ask the Hawke sisters

"Varric are you good at cards?" I ask

"Sure am want in on the action?"

"Hell yes. Just prepare to lose all your money."

Hours later me and Varric are sitting at a table in the Hanged Man and we are still playing cards. "Andraste's ass! You must be cheating! I shout as threw the cards on the table.

"I won't tell." He says laughing I just shake my head with my arms crossed. I look up when I see Athenril walk towards us I smile at her and she smiles back at me.

"Hello," she says to Varric as she sits on my lap and I put my arm around her waist "I see your taking up my man's time." She says to Varric then she looks at me.

"We were just having a card game, relax." I say and she sighs and we all sit there and talk and drink for a while longer until me and Varric get to drunk and Anthenril gets tired.

Athenril practically carries me home and helps me in bed where I fall asleep instantly and she lays down next to me snuggling close. Once I wake up Athenril is not there and I can see it is afternoon. I try to get up then that's when my hangover starts to really kick. My head starts throbbing and I drop back on the bed holding my head in my hands and remembering how much I drank the night before. _Fuck…_ I think then I stand up again and walk down the stairs into a nice sized room with a couch two chairs and a small table in front of the fireplace.

I walk to the table and see a note on it I pick it up and read it. "Great so I'm on my own today. Might as well make breakfast."


End file.
